Next week, after months of construction -- much of it done with his own bare hands -- Iain Chisholm will open Amerigo Delicatus Restaurant & Market, a thirty-seat Italian restaurant on Upper Larimer, in the former Bamboo Hut space and directly next door to the original Billy's Gourmet Hot Dogs.

"The inspections are going well but are taking a bit longer than I anticipated," admits Chisholm, who had initially hoped to unlock the doors by mid-July. But with the help of his sister, wife, mother and mother-in-law -- "This is definitely a family project," he says -- Chisholm is ready to rumble. "We're still finishing up loose ends, but it's looking good, and we can't wait to open."

Chisholm, who is a chef by trade but won't be cooking at Amerigo (he's overseeing the front of the house instead), is hosting a private friends-and-family dinner on Saturday night before he opens early next week, but he gave me an early peek inside his new restaurant, which features an open kitchen, original kaleidoscopic artwork and hand-crafted blond wooden tables. Herewith a first look: